The recent revelation surrounding the deaths of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, abducted 16 months ago by Hamas, has intensified alarm in Israel. An Israeli military announcement indicated that the supposed returned bodies may not even be those of the Bibas family. Autopsies showed that the two boys were killed by terrorists in Gaza, contradicting earlier claims that they died due to an Israeli strike. This ignited fresh outrage within Israeli society, exacerbating tensions at a crucial moment for diplomatic efforts aimed at sustaining a cease-fire in the ongoing Gaza conflict.
For 16 months, the smiling faces of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, had been slowly receding into the background of Israeli life as their photographs posted on walls and bus stops soon after the family's abduction to Gaza in October 2023 began to fade, tear and peel.
The Israeli military announced that the body of Ms. Bibas nominally returned, along with those of her sons, by Hamas to Israel on Thursday appeared to be that of someone else.
The news set off a paroxysm of fury and agony in Israel rarely seen since the tumultuous days that followed Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas, which had previously said they were killed in an Israeli missile strike, said in a statement that it was investigating the claims and suggested that Ms. Bibas's body might have been mistakenly confused for that of a dead Palestinian.
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